The success of an organization always depends on its employees and their motivation to perform well in order to achieve its goals. Griffin et al. (2017) ascertain that the gap between a highly effective and productive organization and a less effective and low productive organization creates as a result of employee motivation. Thus, indeed it is essential to maintain employee motivation within the organization to achieve success.
Berelson and Steiner (1964) explain employee motivation as an inner condition that arises within the employee, which energizes, activates and moves employees, and guides the behavior towards their objectives. Three different manners of performance can be identified within employees in an organization and as per the description of Mol (1985) they are minimal, middle, and maximum levels of employee performance. Mol (1985) goes on explaining that workers in the minimum level perform less than to the expected level and try to avoid work which make them unreliable. Simultaneously, he explains the workers in the middle level are merely performing their jobs and do not repeat the work in any case. They are simply following the order but trustworthy. Besides, the workers in the maximum level go beyond their expected level to perform the best towards the success of the organization.
Even though, the motivation possesses within the individual, Grace et al. (2014) emphasize that in every organization managers should use motivation strategies to ensure the retainment of motivation that will lead the employees to remain disciplined to their management and company. Halepota (2005) explains motivation as the active participation and dedication toward the achievement of certain goals in order to achieve the intended results. Moreover, he attests that the concept of motivation can be varied according to the relevant context since the same strategy will not be effective in every circumstance. Accordingly, the management should plan and create an environment which motivates employees through which can execute maximum level of performance.
Nevertheless, following motivation strategies can be recognized as the most effective strategies to be used by a manager to be successful in their task.
Reward System
Malhotra et al. (2007) identify incentives as an excellent method to motivate employees. Thus, the management has the ability to use a variety of incentives and reward programs to enhance the productivity and motivation of the employees. Incentives can be in different forms as bonuses, paid time off, travel benefits, vouchers and they provide employees with a goal and create a healthy competition which is in favor of the company. This is confirmed by Tropman (2001) by stating that it is the major driving force that compensates, motivates, and rewards employees for their efforts. Thus, it is evident that reward is one of the most crucial elements of modern organizations. Further elaborating the importance of reward system Babi and Luki (2008) state that the fundamental objective of a reward system is to recruit, retain, and inspire employees. Simultaneously, they claim that it is necessary to spend funds on developing employees due to many reasons. Moreover, Bogievi-Milik (2008) highlight that the main objective of the reward system is to align individual employees with the company's strategic objectives by attracting and retaining skilled people. According to explanation of Bogievi-Milik (2008), reward system is an effective method to encourage and support employees to develop their skills and knowledge. Consequently, it can be identified that reward system helps to motivate employees and create a culture in which employees care about the success of the companies.
Employee Empowerment
Pradhan et al. (2014) define employee empowerment as trusting, motivating, and authorizing an employee to perform a task through which motivates the employee to perform his/her best in their abilities with the authority they get. Employee empowerment is visible in education sector as well. In the organization which I work, branch managers have the freedom and authority to control the branch according to the local requirements.
Job Enrichment
Vroom (1964) and Swinth (1971) proclaim that job enrichment contributes to the success of the employee’s performance level. Job enrichment can be identified as the process of involving workers in higher-level managerial functions. Accordingly, Locke (1968) discloses that when the employees are enriched with more responsibilities, there is always a positive association between involvement and objective achievement by these employees. Thus, Bennett (2015) confirms that as a result of job enrichment, both the employee and the organization gain benefits. This motivation strategy can be widely seen in the education sector in which lecturers get the opportunity to enhance their job role into program head and head of the department while delivering the lectures.
Career Advancement
Career development is a lifetime process and Armstrong (2009) explains it as a process of balancing study, work, leisure, and transitions in order to proceed toward an individually decided and growing preferred future which leads to the upward movement in the organizational hierarchy (p.262). Prince (2009) exemplifies employees get motivated to perform well when they believe it leads to a promotion. When the employees have a career goal to achieve, it always positively impacts to enhance their energy as well as the motivation to achieve that target which is good for the organization. It is ascertained by Prince (2009) and he claims in any organization career development and employee engagement can be mentioned as a critical strategic factor to enhance motivation. However, it is necessary for the management to maintain the motivation within the employees by ensuring that they have opportunities and possibilities to succeed in their roles. As per my personal experience, in the education sector employees have different kind of training sessions to enhance their knowledge and skill. Moreover, they get special offers for their higher studies as well.
Reference
Armstrong, M. (2009) Armstrong’s Handbook of Human Resources Management Practice (11th ed.). Kogan Page London.
Babic, M. & Lukic, Z. (2008) Management - theory, functions, institutional aspects and corporate governance. Banja Luka: Ekonomski fakultet.
Bogicevic-Milikic, B. (2008) Human Resource Management. Beograd: Centar za izdavačku djelatnost.
Bennett, D. (2015) Job Enrichment, s.l.: s.n.
Berelson, B. & Steiner, G. (1964) Human behavior: an inventory of scientific findings. New York: Harcourt, Brace and World.
Grace, O., Akinola, O. & Abiola, O. (2014) Motivational Strategies and Enhancement of Employees’ Performance in the Nigerian Food, Beverage and Tobacco (Fobeto) Industry, s.l.: s.n.
Griffin, R.W. (1990) Management (3rd ed.), Houghton Mifflin Company, Dallas, TX. p. 437.
Halepota, J.A. & Shah, N. (2011) An empirical investigation of organizational antecedents on employee job satisfaction in a developing country. Transforming government: People, Process and Policy, 5:(3), 280 – 294.
Likert, R. (1967) New Patterns of Management. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Malhotra, N., Morris, T. and Smets, M. (2010) New career models in UK professional service firms: from up-or-out to up-and-going-nowhere? The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 21(9), 1396–1413.
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yes. motivation suggests that although external rewards, such as financial incentives, may crowd out staff motivation (Benabou and Tirole, 2003; Gneezy et al., 2011), they may also “crowd in” motivation if they are aligned with the underlying values of the individual (Frey and Jegen, 2001). The results presented here confirm the role of managers in linking and aligning internal and external sources of motivation (Deci and Ryan, 2000)
ReplyDeleteYes Chandana. Armstrong and Taylor (2014) explains motivation as the psychological effect on people to behave in one direction.
DeleteReward and recognition enhance the performance of employees. Promotion, bonus, increment and appreciation method should implement to retain high performance employees (Ali and ahmed, 2009).
Employees motivate in many ways, and I would like to suggest further, including financial, career development, recognition, work condition, job security, and promotions (Teshome, 2018).
ReplyDeleteYes Amila.A study conducted by Khan et.al. (2018) provides conclusions that employee motivation is increased by benefits, recognition, empowerment, and job environment. He further explains that the factors not only enhance the employee motivation as well as the factors also enhances their moral and social behavior that tends to improve their work performance.
DeleteExactly. According to Matthew et al (2009) an internally satisfied, delighted and motivated worker or employee is actually a productive employee in an organization which contributes in efficiency and effectiveness of organization which leads to maximization of profits.
ReplyDeleteYes jayashi. Motivated employees can increase organizational competitiveness and profitability (Danish and Usman,2010).
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Agreed. Wigston (2019) comes up with six strategies to inspire the people as motivational strategies. They are open communication, creating culture of collaboration, appreciating the achievers, setting challenges with realistic goals, providing development opportunities and creating positive working environment.
ReplyDeleteAll of these are good points Sumeera. When we consider about working environment, employees working environment is another important factor affecting motivation whereas the physical environment helps to provide meaningful work therefore, motivation is linked with a comfortable work space for the employee (Njambi, 2014).
DeleteAgreed with what you mentioned. Employee engagement and recognition can make people feel appreciated, engaged and happy at work.(Reucrof & Scott, 2015). It is evident that motivation has a direct impact on employee engagement as motivated employees will actively participate to achieve organizations expectations while highly being engaged to their job role.
ReplyDeleteYes Roshini. Motivated and committed employees having high levels of job engagement are considered as an important asset to an organization (Denton, 1987).
DeleteTotally agree that motivational strategies are factors which drive the employees for better productivity. It is evident that a solid system of compensation designed for employees, increases the level of satisfaction (Tobing,2016). However, employers must not compensate different employees at different rates unfairly. In fact, employers should focus on revisiting their respective performance appraisals and define a compensation process which encourages compensation based purely on performance.
ReplyDeleteEmployee motivation is what drives organisations to achieve their goals with better productivity. Not only ability of doing things but also the motivation to do the job are the main two factors in an organization which sets the productivity levels high (Rajasekar and Premkumar, 2017). They further iterates that motivation is the key element in steering an employee's strength towards the value of an organization.
DeleteAgreed. The main difference between highly effective and productive organizations and less effective ones usually is found in the motivation of its employees (Griffin et al., 2017). Extrinsic motivation appears when employees can satisfy their needs indirectly, through monetary compensation (Osterloh et al., 2002). While intrinsic motivation occurs when persons’ behavior is oriented towards the satisfaction of inbred psychological needs rather than to achieve material rewards ( Rayan and Deci, 2000).
ReplyDeleteAgreed.To motivate employee, Organization can reward under two categories, one is Monetary rewords and other one is Non-monetary rewords. According to Yousaf et al,( 2014), Monetary rewards may be bonus pay, tour, gifts or a fair pay system. After some hard work If management can say thank you for the hard work while sending a formal letter by appreciating that good job, it can be categorized under non-monetary reward (Silverman, 2004).This is very important part for any organization.
DeleteAccording to Palmer (2005), a basic part of a motivation strategy must be that the process of achieving the organizational goals. In other words, it is the vital element to ensure that employees do not give up during the implementation phase, by designing a process for achieving goals, and to control the motivation strategy. A motivation strategy is essential for driving the daily tasks and motivating employees with common organizational goals.
ReplyDeleteAgreed with you. According to Kalimullah (2010), a motivated employee has aligned their goals with the organization's goals and directs their efforts in that direction.
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